Abstracts

HYBRIDITY IN THE CANADIAN CRAFT OF CRIMINOLOGY

John BraithwaiteRegulatory Institutions Network, Australian National University

Canada is a distinctive and rich contributor to criminological thought. As in many things, it benefits both from its proximity to powerhouses of the discipline in the United States and from distancing itself from them. Distancing is needed because criminology is enmeshed within a pathological disciplinary structure of social science research invented in the United States and Europe. Canada embraces more hybridity than most national criminologies, though it still falls short in its openness to insights from the South and East of the globe. An important part of the hybridity it does embrace in greater measure than other western societies is wisdom from its Indigenous peoples. Restorative justice, private policing, corporate crime, and crime-war are used to illustrate strengths of Canadian hybridity. These are Canadian conversations in which Carol LaPrairie engaged evocatively.

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WHITER RESTORATIVENESS?: RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AND THE CHALLENGE OF INTIMATE VIOLENCE IN ABORIGINAL COMMUNITIES

Jane Dickson-GilmoreDepartment of Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University

The issue of partner and family violence in Aboriginal settings has long presented unique challenges for communities and criminal justice. Dissatisfaction with conventional legal responses, and especially with mandatory charging policies, whose implications for victims and families are, at best, mixed, has initiated a shift toward restorative justice, which is perceived to be more culturally appropriate and respectful of Aboriginal families. However, there are significant challenges arising from issues of community, culture, and context that must be seriously engaged before restorative justice can offer viable, safe, and sustainable alternatives to Aboriginal communities struggling with violence. Drawing upon years of work with Cree communities, this article explores the realities of intimate violence and restorative responses, arguing that there is additional work to be done before restorative processes can be applied to intimate violence in these communities.

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SENTENCING ABORIGINAL OFFENDERS: LAW, POLICY, AND PRACTICE IN THREE COUNTRIES

Samantha Jeffries and Phillip StenningSchool of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University

The statistical “over-representation” of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice systems (especially prisons) of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand is not disputed. Sentencing is often perceived as a point in the criminal justice system where, potentially, the problem of Aboriginal over-representation could be addressed. During the last 20 years there have been robust discussions in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand as to whether (and if so how) Aboriginality should be taken into account in sentencing. Reviewing and comparing the trajectories of these debates within the three countries during the last 20 years, in terms of legislative provisions, court decisions, and innovative sentencing practices, suggests that although the problem of over-incarceration is viewed similarly, sentencing responses have varied between nations, but have been equally unsuccessful in actually reducing rates of Aboriginal imprisonment.